While the 2014 Formula One World Championship may have wrapped up last week, that doesn’t mean that work has finished for the teams of the Formula One World Championship. After the season finale, the teams stayed on for another couple of days to learn some last lessons from their 2014 cars and start work on 2015.
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Formula E Putrajaya ePrix: #SamBoost
For the second time, the FIA’s new green motorsport took to the streets in an attempt to show that motorsport doesn’t have to be all loud noises and high-octane to be a spectacle.
After a so-so first outing that was only highlighted by a massive accident in the final turn, Formula E returned with a trip to the streets of Putrajaya, Malaysia, that saw battles throughout the field. Well, except at the front where Sam Bird absolutely dominated the day’s running to win his first ePrix.
F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Double the Points, Double the Fun
Double points, regular points and no points. It doesn’t matter what the points on offer would have been in the final race of the 2014 Formula One World Championship because the result would have been the same. With an ERS failure crippling his car for the final half of the race, reliability was finally on Lewis Hamilton’s side as he scored the win and clinched the World Drivers’ Championship.
F1 Power Rankings: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
So we’ve reached the final race of the 2014 Formula One World Championship. Normally, the 17 point gap between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg would be insurmountable under normal circumstances. However, thanks to the wonder that is double points, he’s not out of it yet. A couple of positions between the Silver Arrows can mean the difference between a championship and 2nd place.
You know, I didn’t like the idea of NASCAR’s new Chase format (or any of their Chase formats) but it worked brilliantly in practice. I don’t think double points is going to win anyone over unless Lewis wins the title. Even then, no one will like it.
F1 Brazilian Grand Prix: And Then There Was One (Race)
In Formula One, all it takes is one mistake to ruin your day. Lewis Hamilton had the superior race pace despite not having as quick qualifying paste as his teammate, Nico Rosberg. However, a spin at the end of his second stint ended any chance he had of getting past Rosberg and instead kept his teammate alive in the hunt for the World Drivers’ Championship.
Of course, that wasn’t all of the news of the weekend. Money was still a hot topic of conversation and it looks like that discussion is only going to get more contentious from here.
F1 Power Rankings: Brazilian Grand Prix
We’ve reached the two to go mark of the 2014 Formula One World Championship. Despite the fact that Lewis Hamilton has won ten of 17 races so far, he still hasn’t clinched the championship. He can’t even clinch it this weekend. A combination of bad luck and ridiculous double-points rule threaten to make a farce out of the 2014 World Drivers’ Championship.
As for the Brazilian Grand Prix Power Rankings, the only way they can be made a farce of is if a monumental downpour screws up running on Sunday. Actually, I’d quite enjoy the chaos of a monsoon race.
F1 United States Grand Prix: Two-Stop Two-Step
Nico Rosberg might have started the race on pole but he wasn’t able to finish on the point. Despite a late charge from the German, it was Lewis Hamilton who won his 10th race of the 2014 season and became the winningest British driver in Formula One history in only his 7th season in the top flight of international motorsport.
However, the race was really only a B-plot to this weekend’s story. The three weeks leading up to the United States Grand Prix saw two of the 11 teams on the grid go into administration and fail to turn up for this weekend’s race. In fact, neither team is expected to return in 2014 and may not be back in 2015. The weekend’s real story is the state of the sport and the financial viability for the whole grid and not the mainstays at the sharp end.
F1 Power Rankings: United States Grand Prix
There are three races left in the season and a maximum of 100 points left on the board for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The pair are separated by only 17 points but Nico needs to sweep the final three races and get some luck if the pair 1-2 every race. A non-top-two finish completely screws up those permutations but a non-top-two finish would almost certainly end Nico’s chances.
There’s a lot of pressure heading into this weekend’s race if you’re running for the championship.
IndyCar October Update: The Silliness of Silly Season
It’s seems like forever since the last race of the 2014 IndyCar Series season but it’s only been about two months. With four months still to go before the start of the 2015 season, the picture is starting to clear but there are still plenty of pieces needing to fall during this edition of silly season. However, two of the biggest pieces are in place for 2015 onward.
The OSW Review ECW Playlist
I’ve never made it a secret that I’m a big fan of the OSW Review podcast. It features three self-described racist Irishmen, Jay, Steve (V1) and Steve (Mr. OOC), as the chronologically critique wrestling storylines pay-per-view by pay-per-view.
Having looked at the Hulkamania era of WWF and the David Arquette era in WCW, the boys’ most recent chronological critique looks at the rise, fall, rebirth and subsequent final death of ECW and WWECW. What was supposed to be a four-part ECW retrospective ended up becoming a six-part ECW saga.
Since the final part of OSW’s ECW saga drops today, you can catch up with the first five parts provided that you can spare nine hours to catch up on all five episodes.
The Lowdown 